Young tequila hotel duo look south for expansion

The dynamic duo behind Europe’s first tequila-themed hotel, due to open in October on the Isle of Wight, has revealed exclusively to Boutique Hotelier their plans for expansion.

Andy Taylor and Aiste Bart own El Patron bar and restaurant in Putney and are now gearing up to open their first hotel venture on the Isle of Wight in just one month’s time.

The six-bedroom boutique will be a Mexican playground, with each bedroom named after a different tequila and complete with a cocktail making set and Bose sound system with a programmed iPod with music from the bar and restaurant’s resident DJs.

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The ambitious couple spoke exclusively to Boutique Hotelier and revealed they are aiming to expand the brand to 14 other venues across the UK within the next three years and would be keen to open a hotel in Bournemouth in the future.

Andy Taylor said: “We already have another site under offer for a bar and restaurant in London and in total we hope to have 14 of those in the next three years.

“If a site comes up with a couple of rooms then that would be good. We’d like to do a hotel in Bournemouth. Brighton seems to be the go-to place for expansion after London so we’d like to steer clear of there; Bournemouth would be good.”

Taylor went on to explain how the couple are big fans of Malmaison hotels as each one tells a story and is located within an interesting building, something that they are keen to emulate with the expansion of El Patron.

He said: “It’s all about finding the right building for the hotel. On the Isle of Wight our building is Grade-II listed and has some great features. It has character and this is what we want. Any site we look at would have to be charming and come up at the right price.”